


worlds apart

by PeculiarHeadphones



Category: Wooden Overcoats
Genre: Crying, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Mutual Pining, Rivals to Lovers, Stargazing, all that cute shit, erics like super fucking gay, i headcanon rudyard having some anxiety so im projecting that lmaoo, its sort of descriptive so be careful, lowkey panic attack???, slight angst, this sorta takes place after the season two finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 19:30:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11447550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeculiarHeadphones/pseuds/PeculiarHeadphones
Summary: eric just wants to be someone who means something to rudyard





	worlds apart

Eric was completely and utterly bored, nobody had died in two weeks, which meant nothing to do. Every so often he would get and pace around the building, but even that got old eventually. Things were even more boring without Rudyard constantly barging in accusing him of stealing business, or just doing his best to be a general nuisance. 

Truth be told, he rather missed Rudyard. A lot, actually, more than he’d ever admit to anyone. 

Every so often he would glance across the street over at Funn Funerals. He was tempted to pay them a visit, see how they were doing and such. Of course, he was unsure of how welcome his presence would be. They were so different from him, it was like they were almost world’s away.

Other than that, the next couple days passed by normally. Each time he made eye contact with Rudyard, he was met with the man simple just the man glaring and turning to the other direction. Although not being accused of being of stealing business and being harrassed was nice, he did not enjoy being plain out ignored.

The sun was warm, and hardly any clouds were in the sky. The market area was buzzing with chatter from everyone speaking of their plans for the weekend. Grabbing a basket, he headed into the doors of the grocers. As the doors opened, he ran into none other than Rudyard Funn himself.

“Ah, Rudyard! Haven’t spoken to you for awhile, how’ve you been?” Eric beamed.

“Quite fine, now if you’ll excuse me I have to get back,” Rudyard spoke quickly, trying to step to the side of Chapman, but was intercepted.

“What’s the rush? We haven’t seen much of each other for some time now,” once again, Rudyard stepped to the side and quickly walked away, leaving Eric feeling dejected.

Putting his groceries away, he thought back to his earlier encounter with Rudyard. He felt like a girl in secondary school, crushing on some boy he was sure did not reciprocate. It was silly, really.

He looked out the window, seeing that the lights were still on. Every few seconds he could here shouting coming from the building, it was most likely game night. He sighed, and decided he would brew a cuppa before bed.

Sleep was not very welcoming that night.

It was a problem that arose often, once his mind was bothered with a certain problem, it bothered him for the rest of the night. Most of the time, it was concerning Rudyard.

He wondered how he could ever be anything more to Rudyard than just a rival. If he would ever matter to him, if Rudyard would care if he just disappeared.

He also wondered how it would feel to hold Rudyard’s calloused hands. Was the skin on his neck as soft as it looked? And what about his hair? God, how many times he’s imagined running his hands through his hair. His lips always looked chapped and red, probably because he always bit at them when he seemed distressed. What would kissing him feel like?

Letting these thoughts run their course was not helping. Eric changed out of his pajamas into more casual clothes and grabbed his coat, deciding that perhaps a walk would clear his mind.

Rudyard had a rule, if he could help it, he would never cry in the house. The risk of his sister or Georgie asking him what was wrong. This rule still applied at one in the morning. 

He grabbed his coat and snuck down the stairs, hoping the creaks of the wood wouldn’t wake his sister. Closing the door behind him, he began to make his way towards far edge of the cemetery, where he knew he wouldn’t be bothered.

Once he was sure he was alone, he leaned against the wall and let out a gut-wrenching sob. No matter what, it felt as if no matter what choice he made, it was the wrong one. He still annoyed everyone, still not good enough for anyone. It felt as if the walls were closing in on him.

Eric had doubted that anyone would be out this late, but he was sure he could hear someone crying. Cautiously walking towards the sound, soon the silhouette of a person came into view. Upon a closer look, Eric realized that the person who was crying was Rudyard.

He wasn’t good at consoling people unless they were grieving, so he was quite unsure of how to go about this. He knelt down beside him, and gently placed a hand on Rudyard’s shoulder.

Rudyard’s head snapped up from his knees, and turned to face whoever the hand belonged to. Chapman. Of course, and now he was going to tell the entire village how he found him crying and-

“-ard, Rudyard!” the sound of Chapman’s voice slowly drew him back to reality.

“What do you want, Chapman?” Rudyard snapped, his voice quivering

“Are you okay, what’s wrong?” the concern in his voice sounded genuine, Rudyard almost actually believed it.

“Why do you care? Just bug off, leave me alone,” he turned his head away.

“I do though,” more than Rudyard might ever know, “come on, talk to me here.”

Rudyard was hesitant, Chapman could very well be doing this to plot against him more, but then again, his reputation was already in shambles. 

“Sometimes the world feels like it’s falling apart at the seams, and it get to be too much,” Rudyard’s voice trembled.

Eric didn’t know how to respond, but if even just a little, he got a glimpse into Rudyard’s world. Carefully, he pulled Rudyard into a hug. Rudyard froze up, unsure of how to respond, Eric didn’t care, he was comforting rudyard, he was hugging Rudyard, that was enough for now.

Eventually, Rudyard returned Chapman’s embrace. His hold on Rudyard tightened, and he buried his face in Rudyard’s neck. 

“Chapman?”

“Just, just call me Eric, please?”

“I don’t understand why-”

“Just, just let me have this, please.”

“Eric…” Rudyard whispered.

Eric pulled away from the hug just enough to look at Rudyard’s face. It was dark, but he could see the confusion on the man’s face. His hand graced his cheek, and the expression on Rudyard’s face softened.

The two began to lean towards each other, slowly, and eventually, their lips met.

Rudyard’s lips weren’t nearly as chapped as Eric had been expecting, but he didn’t care, all that mattered was that this was finally happening, he was finally kissing. Taking advantage of the situation, he snaked his fingers into Rudyard’s coarse hair, giving it a slight tug.

Neither knew how long they stayed like that, but eventually the kiss broke apart. Neither one of them said a word, just shifting positions so that they were holding one another, gazing up at the stars above.

After an hour or so, Eric suggested they make their way over to his place and try and get some sleep. To his delight, Rudyard accepted. They made their way hand in hand back to Eric’s, falling asleep in each other's arms.

**Author's Note:**

> you can pry pining eric from my cold, dead, hands
> 
> but the amount of fics in the tag is sad so heres my contribution
> 
> my tumblr is peculiar-headphones, so if you wanna talk abt podcasts or whatever hmu!!! also if you ever write anything for this hella podcast let me know!! i wanna read it!!


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